http://www.fandango.com/cinemarkmovies10_aainq/theaterpage - scroll down to "Tickets Now Available for these Coming Attractions", keep on scrolling and there are the Met operas. If you want to see, say, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, click on the date Saturday, December 19, 2009 or Wednesday, January 6, 2010, then on the next screen click the time of the performance (6.30) and hey presto, you can buy tickets online.

I was sorry to have missed Il Tabarro, an atmospheric work which I like a lot, but heard the other two. I've never much liked Suor Angelica, and didn't find anything today to change my view - the general sound of the music was in the Fanciulla/Turandot neck of the woods, not really my sort of Puccini. On the other hand, Gianni Schicchi is one of my favourites (along with La Bohème), and I enjoyed it, give or take a bit of sloppy ensemble. Corbelli was excellent as ever, and I was impressed by the Albanian tenor. The sound quality, alas, was poor.

Yes, same cast as I saw in late November, give or take a name or two in the supporting ensemble.

I can only take Suor Angelica as an interlude in the middle of this triple-bill, not on its own. The first half is overdependent on the same dubious gimmick as many tiresome Hollywood movies, the adorableness of nuns having human weaknesses and quirks. And the latter half is marred by, as noted, her forgetting suicide is a mortal sin till she's done it. I always want to say "Girl, you're too stupid to live... oh wait." There's also the tinselly music which is the best Puccini could come up with for the "miracle." But I will give this production points for actually staging the miracle. Many productions (including the previous Met one) go for "we see it in her face," which may sound like a good idea in theory but doesn't work out in practice.

As a respite between the wonderful mellerdramer of Tabarro and the hilarity of Schicchi, though, I don't mind it.